Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.

I am in Alberta and have heard about this. According to a poll from Angus Reid 50% of Alberta wants independence. How did this happen so quickly and why? Is it going to be as popular as Quebec's movement for independence?

I am in Alberta and have heard about this. According to a poll from Angus Reid 50% of Alberta wants independence. How did this happen so quickly and why? Is it going to be as popular as Quebec's movement for independence?

I'll take that with a pinch of salt and just wait and see what happens. Other research has indicated that support in Alberta for seceding from Canada is actually far lower than the Angus Reid poll said, and that fewer than one in five Albertans want to secede. I don't trust polls because they are all so very limited in the numbers and types of people that get polled, there's just not enough people from all walks of life included to get honest results. Angus Reid is too selective and not inclusive enough.

Now I know that the QC separatist supporters don't like it whenever First Nations preferences and precedences are brought into question during these discussions because the separatists prefer to pretend the First Nations don't exist. They don't want to think about how the will and intentions of First Nations and their treaties could throw a spanner into the works of their separatist desires. And their first line of defense is more finger pointing ...... "But, but, but ... what about all the horrible atrocities committed against them by the anglos!?!" (which is a useless red herring since it has no relevance to the topic of secession). However, they MUST be brought into the topic because the same situation exists in Alberta too, as it does in Quebec.

Most of Alberta is covered by treaties between First Nations and the federal government and I'm wondering if the Angus Reid group even considered polling the First Nations people in Alberta when they did their poll. I'd bet they didn't want to poll them, and didn't, because they know that First Nation votes would skew the results too much. Because the First Nations people are not interested in separatism and if Alberta were to try to secede the Alberta First Nations’ treaties and legal claims to Alberta lands and resources would have to take precedence, just like they would have to take precedence in Quebec. And the First Nations people know that too, even if Angus Reid and separatist-minded people don't want to think about it and prefer to pretend that it isn't so. First Nations aren't interested.

All this talk of separation anywhere today is ridiculous and is a non-starter. I don't even give credence to Quebec's chances anymore, whereas it was once plausible in the 90s. Every other state in the USA has had a poll sometime about separating and creating their own entity because they were fed up with whichever the ruling governing party was at the time. Alberta is no different. When Harper was PM I'm sure they weren't clamoring to be their own country. Look around some of the significantly more dysfunctional states around the world and see how effective their separation attempts have been.

Almost all of the more recent recognized countries in the last 20 years have been in Africa and well, warlords divide states up like pies there. The most legitimate semi-recognized countries Kosovo and Palestine are only acknowledged by half the world's countries; Taiwan functionally totally separate but officially recognized by less than 20 countries and they've been separated for 60-70 years. Most of the other attempts have not been considered successful; Catalonia's gone nowhere and Scotland's referendum was resoundingly defeated.

Point is, this poll and anyone who takes it seriously is stupid. Alberta will not and cannot feasibly separate from their parent country in a practical sense this decade or the next, or the next after that. It rarely ever happens and smaller, weaker and less significant countries all around the world do not let it happen just because a few people vote on a poll to do so. A mid-tier power like Canada would do everything it can to prevent it. I give better odds of Cascadia becoming its own country (incrementally higher than 0%) than Alberta, smack in the middle heart of the Prairies, to leave Canada.

All this talk of separation anywhere today is ridiculous and is a non-starter. I don't even give credence to Quebec's chances anymore, whereas it was once plausible in the 90s. Every other state in the USA has had a poll sometime about separating and creating their own entity because they were fed up with whichever the ruling governing party was at the time. Alberta is no different. When Harper was PM I'm sure they weren't clamoring to be their own country. Look around some of the significantly more dysfunctional states around the world and see how effective their separation attempts have been.

Almost all of the more recent recognized countries in the last 20 years have been in Africa and well, warlords divide states up like pies there. The most legitimate semi-recognized countries Kosovo and Palestine are only acknowledged by half the world's countries; Taiwan functionally totally separate but officially recognized by less than 20 countries and they've been separated for 60-70 years. Most of the other attempts have not been considered successful; Catalonia's gone nowhere and Scotland's referendum was resoundingly defeated.

Point is, this poll and anyone who takes it seriously is stupid. Alberta will not and cannot feasibly separate from their parent country in a practical sense this decade or the next, or the next after that. It rarely ever happens and smaller, weaker and less significant countries all around the world do not let it happen just because a few people vote on a poll to do so. A mid-tier power like Canada would do everything it can to prevent it. I give better odds of Cascadia becoming its own country (incrementally higher than 0%) than Alberta, smack in the middle heart of the Prairies, to leave Canada.

Well about 85% of Quebecois don't identify as Canadian. About 75% voted for either indepence parties or more autonomy in the last election. And we have nothing to do with the rest of Canada culturally anymore. Political outlook is very different. English Canada is like a U.S. copy but Quebec might have more in common with an western European outlook.

Canada is an unhappy marriage with each spouse barely talking to each other still. The dad sleeps on the couch and mom tells her friends he is kinds of a jerk. The kids know to not to speak about it because feelings will be hurt.

I think Canada gave up on Quebec but also have gave us the autonomy that's necessary. The rest of our autonomy is easily in reach and easy to get really.

Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.